League of Legends Patch 6.5 summarised and explained

Details concerning patch 6.5 for League of Legends have been revealed. As always, some players will love the Patch changes, others will hate them but we will all keep playing the game we love to hate. Important changes are coming and they will have an effect on the game.
Players can no join clubs with friends (enter the jokes about gamers and nerds finally going clubbing), Champion select has added audio cues to prevent disbanding due to people not banning/selecting/ locking in and we also get a space dragon we control to bring sweet vengeance upon our enemies (as long as he does not get banned or picked by the other team).
Here is the stuff that really matters and we need to be aware of:1. Leveling up to 30 takes a lot less now
The people playing for a while now know about the grueling grind to level 30 and how that changes both you and the game when it finally happens. Full rune pages and full masteries really make a difference, finally being able to enter ranked games with your friends or just being able to call lower lvl players “noob” in normal games also add to the fun of the game.
Apparently Riot decided that the XP needed to get to level 30 should be half of what it used to be so obviously it will now take half as long to get to 30. This can have one of two effects: people will get to 30 faster and enter ranked games with less experience which will definitely alter the game experience depending on what kind of players you get on your team. Or this might actually bring more new players to League Of Legends, increasing the player base. (or it’s just a way to try to deter people who boost accounts for money)2. Changes to Kog’Maw and Soraka

Finding a balance point for Kog’Maw this season has been difficult, as Riot’s Scarizard explained in the patch notes:

We’re looking to make a sustainable Kog’Maw for the long-term, free from the binary teeter-totter of ‘really strong or really weak’ that hypercarries tend to fall into. The changelist below represents a shift in thinking about Kog’s power curve — he’ll still scale incredibly with items, but that curve is now more even across the game (rather than spiking at any one particular point). Smoothing this curve means that Kog’s lane can be in a state that’s relatively normal compared to his peers, but the ‘race against the clock’ should feel less harsh for those that fall behind. Kog’Maw may always be the posterchild for what the term ‘hyper-carry’ means in League of Legends, but the hope is for that term to extend beyond just ‘bad lane, great late game’ and into meaningful interactions between the champions and their environments.

Kog’Maw’s attack speed per level is up, and the mana cost of Caustic Spittle (his “Q”) is down. Bio-Arcane Barrage (his “W”) no longer gives attack speed, but it does have base damage.

Meanwhile, the Soraka changes that have been floating around on the PBE are headed to live. Astral Infusion (her “W”) is less powerful and Starcall (her “Q”) has a new function that interacts with Astral Infusion.

Hecarim’s Devastating Charge (his “E”) regains some of its lost power, moving faster and now knocking back enemies based on how far he has moved. He’s been in a pretty weird place in recent patches, due to a combination of pesky bugs and removal of Homeguard Boots from the shop.

Jarvan IV saw cooldown reductions on both Golden Aegis (his “W”) and Cataclysm (his ultimate). The biggest change for him is probably the addition of AOE damage to his ultimate, allowing for group assassination potential from the Exemplar of Demacia.

Old favorite Sejuani received a pretty notable buff to her early game, previously the weakest part of her kit. The damage on Permafrost (her “E”) has been significantly boosted in the early game, while her auto attack reset on Flail of the Northern Winds (her “W”) has a quicker animation.

And while Vi has reliably been a strong ganking jungler, her slow clear time has left her behind when compared with other junglers. That’ll be helped by a significant buff to Excessive Force (her “E”), reducing the ability’s mana cost and increasing its damage.

4. Nerfs to a pair of AD Assassins

Talon and Pantheon are getting nerfed. Not the only Champions that need to get nerfed but let’s take it as a good start.
The damage on Pantheon’s Heartseeker Strike (his “E”) is down, and while the ability still interacts well with Thunderlord’s Decree we will seea little bit less of the “Spartan”. And while Grand Skyfall (his ultimate) costs less mana, it no longer refunds that mana if you cancel it. Pantheon was everywhere lately, he was Top , he was Jungle and I’ve seen him Mid so many times that I thought Riot finally broke the game.
Talon’s been a very strong mid laner since the introduction of Duskblade with patch 6.3, and a nerf was inevitable to try and slow his snowballing. Shadow Assault (his ultimate) now costs more mana and has a higher cooldown. Talon still stands as one the hidden dangers of Mid Lane but the nerf ought to take him down a notch.

5. New champ select sounds
Ever since we got the latest Champion select we’ve been wasting time like professionals because a lot of players were either not paying attention or were unaware of the fact that they needed to Ban, Pick, Lock In and so on. Sometimes it actually took me 20 minutes to start a game. Nobody likes their time wasted so Riot trying to fix this is not a bad thing.
Sounds will alert players when they need to ban, accept a trade. Here’s hoping for better things!
League of Legends Patch 6.5 should be live either later today or later this week.